Interview with Don Thompson

I am absolutely clueless about art. Despite the fact that my mother loves art and I grew up going to museums and surrounded by countless hardcover books filled with paintings and sculptures and ceramics- I have retained almost no knowledge about art, and what makes it “good” vs “bad”, and certainly not what makes a piece worthy of a high price. I just like things that are pretty, or interesting. I have no idea why certain pieces of art are priced or valued the way they are and am always the ignorant friend giggling over the solid blue and red painted canvases at the Pompidou (I’m just there to eat at Georges) which I’m sure are worth huge sums.

That’s why I am such a fan of Don Thompson’s fantastic The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art. Published in 2008, the meticulously researched work serves basically to answer the question – why would one of the world’s most famous hedge fund investors, certainly a very intelligent man about money – pay $12 million to buy a decaying shark preserved in formaldehyde in a tank?  What makes pieces like this worth so much – and is it a true value, or just as one art critic put it – a “cultural obscenity?” And either way, with these valuations – where can I find myself a stuffed shark to play with?

Don Thompson does a fantastic job of not only explaining why that stuffed shark went for how much it did – but also how the contemporary art market evolved to the highly competitive and stratospherically priced place in the art world that it occupies today. The book is filled with history, fantastic profiles and interviews from major players in the art field, and fascinating insights. A quote from early on in the book reads: “What do you hope to acquire when you bid at a prestigious evening auction at Sotheby’s? A bundle of things: a painting of course, but hopefully a also a new dimension to how people see you.”

How interesting is just that one sentence, and how much does it make you want to learn more? The entire book is a testament to Don Thompson’s meticulous research on a fascinating subject, and his great work in putting the story all together. I am happy to introduce him as this week’s interview subject, and I’ve also included a few of my favorite quotes from the book throughout.

Don Thompson being interviewed for the National Post, via

Who are you? What do you do, and where do you live currently?

My name is Don Thompson. I live in Toronto, am an economist by training and teach in an MBA program at the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Roy Lichtenstein’s “Sleeping Girl,” sold for $45M in May 2012, via

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“The value of art often has more to do with artist, dealer, or auction-house branding, and with collector ego, than it does with art.” (pg. 228)

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If you could describe the state and market for modern art today in a few short sentences, what would it be?

The market for contemporary art is booming.There is a generational shift towards contemporary and away from the art of the established past. This began with Pop Art and the New York School after the Second World War. It accelerated after the market crash of 1990, spurred by the diminishing supply of high quality older artwork, which had steadily disappeared into museums and long-term private collections. Since the turn of the 21century, contemporary art sales at auction have surpassed sales of Impressionist and modern art.

The other factor impacting the state of modern art today, is the “fit” of contemporary art with modern design, fashion, and architecture. Contemporary art reflects a collector’s individuality and taste in a way that historical art does not.